Website Resources

29.   www.wufoo.com (Demonstration and Slide 10)– This is hands down the easiest way to handle online registrations and online payment. If you need to set up a sign-up form for your next children’s event, Wufoo forms can be built in just a few minutes. If you need online payment, Wufoo integrates with lots of different merchant providers like Paypal. Wufoo offers an introductory free service, but you’ll need to buy a subscription to access their online payment features. There are no contracts, and no minimum terms. I’d recommend purchasing just as many months as you need, and downgrading when you don’t need it. You can either link directly to a form, or add embed code to your website.

30.   www.mixlr.com (Slide 11)– If you’ve ever wanted to record and stream your church service for free, this is the tool to do it. Simply create an account, download the app, and connect your audio, and you are all set. Mixlr provides code to allow you to easily embed your service on your website. And if you find that you need more than the free hour per day they offer, you can buy three hours for $5.00, which is a huge bargain in my opinion.

31.   www.dropbox.com (Demonstration of Photo Galleries)– This isn’t a new resource at all, but if you aren’t using it, you are seriously missing out. This will replace the need to burn files to disk, use a flash drive or email multiple attachments. Dropbox is a free service that allows you to share files and folders with other people. You can sync your files and even create photo galleries in seconds. There are some other cloud services offered by Google, Apple and Microsoft, but Dropbox is still my favorite for its ease of use and intuitive functionality.

32.   www.zapier.com – Zapier is all about automation. Basically it takes different web services and ties them together automatically. So, for example, maybe you’d like all of your email attachments to automatically get added to a folder in your Dropbox. You could set up a “Zap” to accomplish this. Many of their zaps are free, and the number of companies and applications they can connect is pretty mind-blowing. If you need two or more web services to “talk” to each other, check this service out.

33.   www.mailchimp.com – Email Newsletters offer an excellent way for you to connect with parents and send event announcements. MailChimp’s free email newsletter service is a great value for the money ($0.00). You can set up contact lists, build really sharp looking email newsletters and see who’s actually reading your email messages. This is more convenient than trying to send email from your Gmail account, and makes you look professional at the same time.

34.   www.getfirebug.com – If you are at all interested in getting into the nuts and bolts of your website, and working with the code, the Firebug tool is invaluable. Firebug is an add-on for the Firefox browser, and it allows you to inspect web pages, edit code, simulate updates and troubleshoot website issues.